by Tara Fuller
He grunted, ripping the last of the soul from its skin, and tossed his ridiculous curls out of his eyes. “You know, some people think my voice is intoxicating.”
“I think you misunderstood,” I said, watching him struggle with the soul, who was flailing about and screaming. “They must have said nauseating.”
The angel across from me wrapped her arms around her middle and watched us warily. Tired of standing in the street, watching Scout make a jackass out of himself, I stepped in to lend him a hand.
“Calm down, man.” Scout reached for the soul, who slipped out of his grip, flashing from one side of the street to the other. A hiss rose from the dark drain near the curb, and a shadow demon slipped up through the grates. “This isn’t as bad as it looks.”
“It’s not?” The soul looked back at him wide-eyed in disbelief. “I’m…dead. I’m dead! I’m dea—”
A second shadow slipped up from the grates and I cursed. This was ridiculous. We should have been gone by now. Instead we were about two minutes away from luring in a horde of shadow demons for a feeding frenzy. And now we had two angels milling around watching us like we were some kind of sideshow. If those shadows caught a whiff of them, there wouldn’t be any stopping the chaos that would ensue.
I waited for the soul to pass back in front of me, then reached out and snatched him by the throat, cutting off his words. His soul sizzled under my touch, burning us both.
“Name,” I growled.
“Troy,” he gasped.
When he started to slip through my fingers, I placed the tip of my blade under his throat, tipping his chin up. “You ready to listen, Troy?”
I raised a brow and he nodded.
“Good. You’re dead. You’ll have an eternity to dwell on that, but right now, you need to get over it so we can get you processed. If you don’t cooperate, I promise you’re going to have things far worse than us to be afraid of. Understand?”
He nodded again, and I dropped him.
Scout reached his fist out, waiting for me to bump it with my own, and I rolled my eyes. “Get your shit together next time. You can’t baby them when they’re like that.”
Scout dropped his hand and nodded, his jaw set into a hard line. “Yeah. I know. Thanks for the help.”
“Don’t thank me,” I said. “Just don’t let it happen again. We need to move. We’ve got company.”
I motioned to the shadow demons closing in, soulless, forever hungry beings that fed on souls. This blast zone had just turned into a lunch buffet. I turned to find my charge kneeling near the boy who still gasped, holding on to life by his fingernails. She ran a ghostlike finger over his cheek, and sadness throbbed like a bottomless black pit where her heart once beat. They were both pure. I could feel it. The strings of Heaven were already trying to pull them home, relying on me to get them there. Everything about this felt unnatural. Each earthly territory had three assigned reapers. One for Hell. One for the Inbetween. And one for the Heaven-bound. Once upon a time, when Finn and Anaya had been at my side, that’s exactly how it had been. I looked down at the girl, hating the peaceful pull of Heaven coaxing me to give in to this responsibility. It should have been Anaya here. She was Heaven’s reaper, not me. Hell, she’d existed for this once upon a time. But that was before she’d decided to trade her reaper card in for life as a guardian. Before Finn had decided to grow a heart and become mortal again. Now there was only me.
“He’ll meet you there,” I said, knowing this was the closest thing to comfort I had to offer.
“Promise?” She looked up, eyes full with the memory of tears.
I looked down at the boy, startled to see him blinking up at me, pleading without the use of words.
Don’t promise. You don’t do promises.
There was something about the fear in his eyes…it was the kind of fear that could only exist when standing on the brink of eternity. Had someone promised my mother? My sisters? Comforted them when they’d stood on the precipice of death?
I met his glazed-over, terrified gaze. “I promise.”
I reached my hand out to her, already regretting my words, intending to grab her by the arm. Before I could react, she’d reluctantly begun to lace her fingers through mine. That simple contact was enough to set off an explosion of panic and pain inside my skull.
“Don’t.” I jerked away from her touch and grabbed her by the wrist instead. I knew I was being an asshole for denying her the small comfort of another’s palm pressed against hers, but I couldn’t do it. Her shiny brown eyes dropped to my harsh grip on her wrist, and she shuddered. This wasn’t how a Heaven’s reaper would have done things. They would have whispered a reassuring prayer. Given a comforting touch. But I wasn’t a Heaven’s reaper.
A soft gasp behind us caught my attention and I stilled, feeling the presence of another being spread across my skin like static. Scout looked over my shoulder and raised a brow, prompting me to turn around.
The two angels were still across the street, watching us. The tall blonde shook her head, her clear blue eyes full of disdain. But it wasn’t her I couldn’t look away from. It was Red. Her pale fingers touched her parted lips, and a look of despair touched the corners of her eyes as they crinkled in pain.
“I’m so sorry…” she whispered, directing her words to the soul in my grip. It dawned on me then. She was one of their projects. They’d probably been working their happily-ever-after magic on this human when that gas line blew their carefully laid plans to smithereens.
Scout waved at them, and the tall blonde rolled her eyes as she grabbed Red’s arm. Scout said, “I know I said I was throwing in the towel, but I don’t think I can resist. Do you see how the blonde one keeps watching me? She wants me.”
“Not a chance, Casanova.” I grabbed on to his assigned soul, Troy, with my free hand before Scout could lose him again. A lost soul was the last thing I needed right now.
The pull of the other side became too much for me to ignore, and I gripped the side of my head in a futile attempt to calm the screams of the dead. I glanced back to the boy pinned by the wall. I couldn’t wait.
“You’re going to have to take mine,” I said to Scout. “I can’t hold on anymore. I’ll take yours with this one, so we don’t run into any more problems.”
“Why do you treat me like I’m incompetent?”
I raised a brow. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
He jerked his scythe from his holster and waved me off. “Whatever. I’ve got your straggler.”
“Good.” I shook my head hard and waved my hand in the air, focusing to open the one portal that was so resistant to me. It took a few tries, but eventually a blinding light swirled before us. The portal opened, a pulsating glow of every color swallowed us, and a cold dread settled in my gut. That light repelled my very presence, and I was about to plow through like I owned the place. I pinned Scout with a glare and pointed over his shoulder.
“Don’t screw this up.”
Chapter 4
Gwen
“What does he think he’s doing?” Sky stood, awestruck, staring after the remnants of pearl-colored vapor that shimmered where the Hell’s reaper had just stood. “He’s a Hell reaper. He can’t just…I mean he…”
Ignoring her, I walked over to Tyler. Beautiful, dying Tyler, holding on to the last shred of his humanity. I knelt down and sifted my fingers through his dark hair. His eyes glassed over and a ragged breath shuddered out of his lungs.
This was my fault. If I hadn’t interfered, he wouldn’t have been here. He wouldn’t be broken and bleeding. He’d be alive and well. Oh, God… I should have listened to Sky. I should have—
“She’s dead,” he whispered, eyes focusing on my face. My hand froze in his hair, and I frowned. He couldn’t possibly see me. I’d never been seen. Not by one of the living. It was a strange feeling, after two years of invisibility, to have someone finally see you. I glanced over my shoulder to find only humans sifting through debris, unaware of the d
ying boy under the heavy wall, then returned my attention to Tyler. He blinked away a tear, which carved a tiny river of sadness through the soot on his cheek.
“Who is dead?” I asked.
“April.” Her name was nothing more than a puff of breath on his tongue, but I understood. I sank down into the rubble beside him. “She’s…dead…and I’m…still…I don’t want…”
“Not for long,” I whispered. “It will all be over soon and you’ll see each other again in a place so much better than this.”
“Promise?” he said through gritted teeth. “Promise…me. I need to see her again. I need—”
“Gwen!” Sky grabbed my arm and pulled me to stand, looking frantically between Tyler and me. “What are you doing?”
What was I doing? I didn’t even know what to say. I only knew I owed this boy everything. At the very least, I owed him comfort.
“Maybe she wants to try her hand at reaping.” The reaper behind Sky blew a blond curl out of his eyes and flashed a lopsided grin at me. “I’d be happy to show you the ropes, Angel. I’d be much nicer than my better half. Easton isn’t nearly as sweet as me.”
“She wants no such thing!” Sky pulled me away while Tyler gurgled and choked below us. I looked down and met his terrified gaze.
“While I hate to break up a party, I actually do have a job to do, girls,” the reaper said. “And I’ve already pissed off tall, dark, and deadly enough for one day. So if you don’t mind…”
I reached out to Tyler, hanging on to the connection between us, passing strength and comfort through the fragile bond. But it wasn’t enough. The dark cloud of panic and pain surrounding him was too much.
“Gwen?” Sky snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Are you listening?”
“I promise,” I finally managed to say, releasing the connection, allowing him to sink into the end. “I promise you’ll see her again. I promise this won’t be for nothing.”
His eyes glazed over, body limp, chest still. I bit my lip, trying to expel the nauseating feeling of sadness trying to pull me under. The reaper pulled his scythe from his holster as the last bit of life was snuffed out from Tyler. I turned away. I couldn’t watch his soul be ripped from its home the way April’s had.
“We need to go,” I said to Sky. “Now.”
I had to be sure that reaper delivered April safely to her eternal home. I had to make sure I hadn’t broken my promise. I thought back to the tortured violet eyes that had burned me with their stare. The pain in them had drawn me so forcefully I’d had to plant my feet against the concrete to keep from moving forward to smooth out the angry lines that marred his face and lend him an ounce of the joy coursing through my veins. I closed my eyes and steeled myself against the intense wave of need washing through me. The need to help him. To heal him of the hurt I could sense swirling inside. I couldn’t think about that right now. Giving in to that kind of connection, with someone like him, was only going to get me into trouble.
Sky grabbed my hand. “You’re just upset because your Romeo and Juliet met an untimely demise. You’ll just have to try again. Don’t worry. This world has enough miserable creatures to keep us busy for an eternity.”
I allowed her to drag me forward, leaving the reaper behind to finish with Tyler, and stepped into the blinding light of the portal she’d opened for us. “It’s not over,” I said. “We need to make sure they find each other.”
Once we were on the other side, the purest light washed away any trace of death and destruction. The lavender-tinged sky rippled with the soft hum of a faraway choir, soothing and soft. I looked across the clearing to the towering golden gates, or rather the dark spot in front of them. It was him… Sky grabbed my arm, trying to get my attention. “Gwen…”
I waved her off and watched a few whispering angels make their way toward the gates to gawk at the reaper cloaked in darkness. I didn’t need her lecture again. Love was a product of the work we did. The kisses, the intimate whispers, the innocent touches that meant more than words could ever express—these were things I’d never have. Things I was never supposed to want. I was merely the spark to ignite the flame. I was never meant to experience the burn.
A lulling hum filled my ears, radiated peace, and told me I was home. We moved toward the entrance to the gate, ducking past the angels who were treating one of my father’s most feared reapers as if he were a sideshow. If they’d seen they way he’d wielded that scythe, I doubted they’d be so curious.
I stopped at the edge of the crowd when I found him again. Dark yet beautiful, a complete contradiction to the light around him. Again, I pressed my feet against the ground, fighting against the sensation in my chest, tugging me toward him and stealing my breath. What was wrong with me? One look at him should have sent me running in the other direction, but when he lifted his gaze, his strange violet eyes connected with mine. Something in me flickered to life. The void inside pulsed, pushing me forward.
“Gwen,” Sky said more firmly.
I sighed. “I know, Sky. I know.”
“Do you?” She raised a perfect blond brow. “Because you’ve got that look in your eyes again.”
The reaper tore his gaze from mine and finished his work, handling over the soul he’d brought with a harsh efficiency I wasn’t used to seeing. Cold. Detached. I shook my head to clear it and turned to Sky.
“What look?”
She folded her arms across her chest and her gaze flitted between the reaper and me. “One that doesn’t belong on your face in the vicinity of someone like him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Sky,” I said. “He’s…he’s…”
Tormented. Sad. Beautiful.
“Off-limits,” Sky interrupted my thoughts. “That’s what he is.”
I thought back to the maddening mix of anger and anxiety that had swirled around him when they’d almost lost that soul. What would have happened to him if they had? Knowing my father and his short fuse, nothing good. And it would have been my fault. A chill coursed through me at the thought of that anger, and I rubbed my arms, allowing the joy in my veins to warm me.
“Don’t you feel bad?” I asked. “They nearly lost a soul because of us. We interfered with death, for God’s sake.”
Sky rolled her eyes. “Please. Lover boy would have gotten distracted by a stop sign wearing a skirt. If anything, they got in the way of our job.”
“But I asked him to wait,” I whispered. “He hesitated for me.”
Sky narrowed her gaze at him through the crowd and shivered. “Gwen, honey, I don’t think someone like him hesitates for anyone. He must have had other reasons. Don’t fret about it. Guilt doesn’t look good on you.”
The gates opened, and Sky and I joined the hushed silence around us as another of the Almighty’s creations was ushered to her final home. Every eye was on the vibrant soul as she took a hesitant step forward and touched the gilded bars. Seeing the transition never failed to leave me in awe. My work was on the earth plane, serving the humans who still lived a mortal existence. What must it feel like to be the one to guide them home? I looked to the reaper, expecting to see the same wonder and joy reflected in his eyes, but all I saw was pain. Light exploded from between the gates and he squinted, shielding his eyes from the blinding purity in it. Angels scattered across the courtyard, the essence of so many of them lending a glittery sheen to the cloud base beneath us.
“Look at him. He’s so tainted he can’t even look at it,” a voice sneered from somewhere in the crowd. “He has no business here.”
“Sinful.”
“Go back to the hole you crawled out of!”
The dark reaper’s frame tensed as he lowered his hands and glared at the crowd. His hand clenched into a fist around his blade, and a muscle in his jaw flexed. His anger and pain circled him like smoke, poison to a place like this. He looked poised for battle, but instead of defending himself, he stepped back toward the portal. A foreign feeling swelled inside me, more potent than pain, almost burning my ins
ides. Before I could stop it, it exploded out of me.
“What is wrong with you?” I shouted to the group of angels watching the dark reaper retreat. “You call yourselves angels. Where is your compassion? Where is your kindness?”
An angel with broad shoulders and chin-length white hair sauntered up to me, an irritating smirk on his face. The gilded shield slung across his back and his downy white wings told me he was a warrior. “Little Gwen, don’t be naive. If you could see the bloody trail of sins he left behind him in life, you’d know better than to defend someone like him. He is everything we are fighting against.”
I moved away from him, determination driving every step, and Sky’s eyes widened.
“Gwen? What are you doing?”
“What none of you seem to have the heart to do.”
Once again I felt the pull, but this time I didn’t try to stop myself. I moved on impulse, the internal need to comfort driving me forward. Had the reaper ever known joy? What would it be like to see someone like him smile—break free from the chains holding him down and laugh? I was intent on finding out. Ignoring the horrified stares of the angels, I slipped through the crowd until I stood a few feet from the darkest soul I’d ever seen. He holstered his scythe and looked me over skeptically.
“I’m Gwen.”
He looked surprised, his gaze raking over me from head to toe, in a way no other being had ever looked at me. It made me feel stripped raw. It made me feel torn in two, one part ready to run away and the other ready to beg that he look at me like that every day.
“You realize they can see you talking to me?” He raised a brow as if he expected me to run back to the masses and duck my head in shame.
“I’m not blind.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I know they’re watching.”
“Well, this is a first. What’s so important that you’re risking exile to talk to me?”
“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry. For them. And for distracting you earlier. I never intended for that to happen. I’ve just never…I’ve never seen someone die like that. I wasn’t prepared.”